text:
Food processing mergers and acquisitions can be rough water to navigate, especially for plant floor employees and plant managers who initially might seem immune to the effects of such high-level corporate decisions. Recent changes at Kraft Foods Group and others can be instructive for those undergoing corporate changes in their own companies.
In late 2009, Kraft Foods Inc. made a hostile bid for Cadbury PLC, angering UK citizens and worrying consumers across Europe, fearful that their favorite chocolate treats would take on a new Americanized taste.
The consolidation was smooth from this side of the Atlantic, but months after the acquisition, Kraft closed a facility in Keynsham it had offered to keep open, and according to news reports at the time, about 400 people lost their jobs.
Of course, before the Kraft buyout, Cadbury itself had been finalizing plans to close the facility. Despite the fact that Kraft couldn't be blamed for slashing Keynsham jobs already planned for elimination, the company's original offer to keep the facility open was seen by many in the UK — industry-watchers, food industry workers and average citizens — as a disingenuous offer.
Fast forward three years, and Kraft has just completed one of the largest spinoffs in NASDAQ history. On October 2, the company successfully spun its international snack business — now called Mondelez International — into its own company, with the remaining U.S. grocery business, Kraft Foods Group, maintaining Kraft Foods' recognizable branding.
On the day of the split, Tony Vernon, CEO of Kraft Foods Group, began the day at the company's Northfield, Ill., headquarters and announced, "Our strength is in our people. We are 25,000 strong and together we will make the new Kraft."
The photo-op on the plant floor and verbalized commitment to Kraft's workers are likely good signs for Kraft's employees hoping to continue to grow with the company.
Meanwhile, Mondelez has hit the ground running. Heading up the new company, Kraft Foods Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld has promised an aggressive growth strategy for the new snack giant. On the day of the split, she said, "This is a very special day. We're making our debut as Mondelez International and unleashing a global snacking powerhouse that's uniquely positioned to delight consumers. We're the world's greatest start-up. Out of the gate, we have $36 billion in revenue and leading positions in every market in which we compete. What's more, our brands have been loved by consumers around the world for generations."
And it didn't take long for the innovations to start rolling out. Less than a week after its spinoff, Mondelez launched a new candy bar in the UK — Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo. The candy bar combines flagship products from the pieces of the old Kraft brand claimed by Mondelez and the new(ish)ly acquired Cadbury line.
As Kraft and Mondelez both put forward aggressive growth strategies market watchers are heralding the split as a great move for both and are almost uniformly encouraging investors to stake a claim in either company. Aggressive growth and positive earnings reports can only mean good news for food industry workers.
What's your take? Please feel free to comment below or email [email protected].


text:
2014 Chevy Impala sacrifices head room, visibility for style
If ever there were an Everyman's car, it would be the Chevrolet Impala.
The nameplate started in 1958, attached to a bathtub-like large automobile with curving trunk lines. It lasted only a year, when the styling gave way to the famous finned vehicles of 1959 and a few years beyond.
In 1964, the Impala became America's best-selling automobile with nearly 890,000 sales -- an astounding number that is difficult to imagine today. In 2012, the biggest selling car in the United States was the Toyota Camry, with a total of 404,886.
In recent years, however, the Impala skidded on a combination of a trend away from large toward midsize cars, a troubled auto industry brought on by the recession of 2008 and a general indifference toward the brand by General Motors.
Nevertheless, it retained a reservoir of good will that enabled Chevy dealers to sell 169,351 Impalas in 2012. But the bulk of them, around 70 percent, went to fleet operators like automobile rental companies.
That business is so lucrative that Chevrolet will continue the existing model strictly for fleet sales in 2014, calling it the Impala Limited.
But the public, which buys at retail, gets an all-new Impala that is startlingly different from the fleet car. With it, Chevrolet intends to flip the share to the point where seven out of ten Impalas will be of the all-new car.
As always, the new Impala is, by the government's definition, a large car. It is 16 feet 9 inches long with 105 cubic feet of passenger space and a cavernous, well-finished trunk of nearly 19 cubic feet. There's plenty of space for four people to stretch out in comfort.
However, it's not all good. The sleek styling, which from the side bears a passing resemblance to the Jaguar XJ, results in a sharply raked roofline that limits rear headroom and requires back seat passengers to duck low to get inside. There's also a giant floor hump -- surprising because the Impala is a front-wheel-drive car -- and a hard seat cushion that punishes anybody brave enough to sit in the center rear.
Visibility to the front and sides is fine. But the rear window has the look of a machine gun slot in a World War II bunker in Normandy, which gets even smaller if you raise the rear headrests. Fat pillars on each side -- called C pillars in the industry -- severely restrict vision to the rear quarters, so it's important to adjust the outside mirrors to eliminate blind spots. For those who don't know how or refuse to do that, a blind spot warning system is available.
Overall, however, interior comfort is first cabin. Front seats are supportive and comfortable, and the instruments and controls are easy to read and use. A clever innovation is a "valet" compartment behind the touch screen. It opens at the touch of a button and locks away valuables like a hotel safe, also cloaking any personal information in the Impala's onboard memory.
There are three engines, all of which connect to six-speed automatic transmissions with manual shift modes: 196-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder, 305-horsepower 3.6-liter V6, and an economy oriented 182-horsepower, 2.4-liter mild hybrid four-cylinder that uses a small electric motor to provide a boost of power. The last has an EPA city/highway fuel consumption rating of 25/35 mpg while the other four-cylinder version checks in at 21/31 mpg.
Only the V6 model, with a 19/29 rating, was available for testing at the introduction, obviously a case of putting your best performer forward.
On the road, the tested Impala is a spirited runner with a zero to 60 miles an hour acceleration time of 6.8 seconds, according to Chevrolet. It gives up some ride comfort for improved handling, although the ride would only bother people who like pillow-soft comfort.
Though short of sports sedan capabilities, the Impala takes a solid set through curves, abetted by the relatively stiff suspension system. The electric power steering has a firm straight-line feel, though it gets a trifle lazy in turning maneuvers.
The test car was an LT model with a starting price of $30,760. Options included Chevrolet's MyLink navigation, communications and entertainment systems; rear cross traffic, lane departure and blind spot warning systems; 19-inch alloy wheels; ultra-suede cloth upholstery; rearview camera, and remote starting. That elevated the price to $35,770.
A loaded LTZ model with adaptive cruise control, leather upholstery, 20-inch wheels and a Bose audio system had a bottom line sticker of $39,510.
Model: 2014 Chevrolet Impala LT four-door sedan.
Engine: 3.6-liter V6, 305 horsepower.
Transmission: Six-speed automatic with manual shift mode.
Overall length: 16 feet 9 inches.
EPA passenger/trunk volume: 105/19 cubic feet.
Weight: 3,800 pounds.
EPA city/highway fuel consumption: 19/29 mpg.
Base price, including destination charge: $30,760.
Price as tested: $35,770.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012 - Zimbabwe
- Document source:
28 June 2012
Unable to challenge the seizure of their land in Zimbabwe, white farmers continued to seek justice in neighbouring South Africa. In 2010, a court ruling in South Africa, implementing a decision by the Southern African Development Community tribunal, allowed the sale of Zimbabwean government property in Cape Town to provide compensation to farmers. In 2011, the courts overturned an application by the Zimbabwean government to prevent its assets from being sold on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. But despite the ruling in favour of the farmers, the auction of the property has yet to be carried out.
In 2000, land reforms in Zimbabwe began with the forceful reacquisition of property from Zimbabwe's 4,000 white farmers. The land was redistributed to a million black Zimbabweans, motivated by the legacy of forced evictions under colonial rule in favour of white settlers. Government supporters argued that these reforms were integral to redressing colonial inequalities, but they have been largely condemned by the wider international community for their often violent nature. Furthermore, the exodus of white farmers from Zimbabwe affected the economic stability of the country, throwing the agricultural sector into turmoil.
Although the land reforms may have contributed to improving food security for at least some poor farmers, critics have pointed out that the reforms were not as inclusive as they claimed to be. In 2011, the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) asserted that land reform has done little to redress the gender imbalance in land ownership. Women continue to face discrimination under customary land ownership laws, and national legislation has inadequately addressed this inequality. Furthermore, land distribution programmes have reportedly discriminated against Ndebele, Zimbabwe's largest minority group.
In 2011, the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF), a nationalist Ndebele party, openly campaigned for the establishment of an independent Republic of Mthwakazi (RoM) in Matabeleland for the Ndebele people. The call was met with much contention and resulted in the arrest of three MLF leaders in early March. The men were charged with treason for reportedly handing out pamphlets that called for members of the national army to defect and support the formation of the RoM. While the accused were initially refused bail, they were eventually released. The original court date was set in November; the trial finally commenced in March 2012 but was subsequently adjourned.
MLF's desire for an independent state stems from wanting to redress the perceived socio-economic discrimination towards Ndebele by the Shona majority. Party leader Paul Siwela maintains that their agenda is not tribalist. He has pointed out that Shona and other non-Ndebele people settled in the region will be allowed to stay in RoM if they choose to. Siwela also assured the public, in a radio interview upon his release, that the MLF's activities would continue to be peaceful unless the state initiated aggression. But concerns about violent outbreaks remain.
Anglicans in Zimbabwe continue to face harassment from the state-supported breakaway faction led by self-appointed bishop Nolbert Kunonga, and are unable to gather and worship freely. In June 2011, Anglicans were denied access to the official shrine of African martyr, Bernard Mizeki, for the second year running. In September, leader of the mainstream Anglicans, Bishop Chad Gandiya, reported that the seizure of church property with the cooperation of the police force was intensifying; even an orphanage, home to more than 100 children was targeted for eviction. In October, the Archbishop of Canterbury visited Zimbabwe and met with President Mugabe, who promised to speak to Kunonga. Shortly after the Archbishop's visit, a High Court judge ruled that staff members of the Daramombe Mission School would be allowed to return to their posts immediately, after being served eviction notices the previous month. Whether international scrutiny will have any lasting impact remains to be seen.
Disclaimer: © Minority Rights Group International. All rights reserved.
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.


text:
T-Mobile Wants To Keep Smartphones Cheap
T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm told the Wall Street Journal that T-Mobile plans to sell a number of Android devices for $100 or less. Explaining that not all customers want expensive, high end devices T-Mobile is looking to capture that demographic.
"We are working with our vendors on this one to drive the price of smartphones down,"
T-Mobile won't be the only carrier hoping to attract new customers with cheaper handset offerings but T-Mobile hopes the combination of inexpensive handsets and cheaper data offerings are a win, win in the market. Those of you looking to see T-Mobile go after high-end devices as well should not fret, there is plenty in the mill to attract both types of customers.
As T-Mobile looks to improve on last years numbers, a push into both demographic markets combined with the no premium on 4G pledge is just what the doctor ordered.


text:
January 25, 2013
52 Lists: Favourite TV Shows From Childhood
When I was in uni, my friend and housemate, Margie, and I decided to rent a VHS tape (REMEMBER THOSE?!?!) of the Care Bears and we kind of regretted it immediately. Watching it as 20-somethings made us realise it was quite stupid. Well, not stupid per se... It just made me sad that some of the magic was gone. It was like me revisiting my favourite spaghetti bolognese dish from childhood and realising it was complete rubbish. So sad. Although I'm pretty sure Fraggle Rock is forever awesome. And Noddy too. I LOVE NODDY SO SO MUCH.
Noddy... the little man with the red and yellow car...
Seriously guys, too much telly.
10 comments:
- Gemma@prettybobbins said...
The gummi bears had their own show? Who knew lol although I'm sorry to break it to you... Or maybe I won't. I'll just say, don't watch Noddy, some magic may be lost lol Some good pics there, thanks for sharing :)
- January 25, 2013 at 4:27 AM
- Douglas said...
I'm really excited the Snorks made your list!!
- January 25, 2013 at 7:39 AM
- Marla said...
Guess we didn't have Noddy in the US
Sesame Street
Fraggle Rock
Square One
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
Full House
Batman (Adam West)
The Muppet's show
The New York Stock Exchange ticker with my dad (I think he tricked me into thinking I liked watching that)
- January 25, 2013 at 7:51 AM
- terrieannie said...
You are definitely younger than I am! Mighty Mouse, The Jetsons, Underdog, The Flintstones... those were my Saturday morning cartoons!
- January 25, 2013 at 9:49 AM
- Katie B said...
LOVED Fraggle Rock. There's a new version of TMNT on now, and I'm secretly glad that I get to watch it with my son.
- January 25, 2013 at 10:39 AM
- CitricSugar said...
Wow - Mask. Nice! I thought I was the only kid in the world watching that one… It was a favourite. Enough to add the toys to my Christmas wish list as a kid...
All of these would be on my list except for Noddy and Postman Pat - we didn't get those ones here. But I recognize all the others. I dug The Wuzzles, too. Disney had a hot streak for a while - Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Rescue Rangers, Tailspin…
Thanks for a nostalgic mind jolt! Oh, and Fraggles? Canadian. :-)
- January 25, 2013 at 12:38 PM
- Sandra said...
I love Noddy too (and Big Ears). Did you have Magic Roundabout with Dougall?
Ah, childhood; so far away........ - January 25, 2013 at 6:50 PM
- Sandra said...
Ooh and Postman Pat...
"Postman Pat, postman Pat, postman Pat and his black and white cat; early in the morning...." (getting strange looks from my hubby and kids here....) Memories. - January 25, 2013 at 6:53 PM
- Cassie Cridlebaugh said...
The Muppets! :)
- January 27, 2013 at 2:24 AM
I think you should gather your beautiful handwritten lists and create a fabric on spoon flower. I would buy it.
- March 20, 2013 at 11:36 AM


text:
It was for two reasons that Montana Kid discarded his "chaps" and Mexican spurs, and shook the dust of the Idaho ranges from his feet. In the first place, the encroachments of a steady, sober, and sternly moral civilization had destroyed the primeval status of the western cattle ranges, and refined society turned the cold eye of disfavor upon him and his ilk. In the second place, in one of its cyclopean moments the race had arisen and shoved back its frontier several thousand miles. Thus, with unconscious foresight, did mature society make room for its adolescent members. True, the new territory was mostly barren; but its several hundred thousand square miles of frigidity at least gave breathing space to those who else would have suffocated at home.
Montana Kid was such a one. Heading for the sea-coast, with a haste several sheriff's posses might possibly have explained, and with more nerve than coin of the realm, he succeeded in shipping from a Puget Sound port, and managed to survive the contingent miseries of steerage sea-sickness and steerage grub. He was rather sallow and drawn, but still his own indomitable self, when he landed on the Dyea beach one day in the spring of the year. Between the cost of dogs, grub, and outfits, and the customs exactions of the two clashing governments, it speedily penetrated to his understanding that the Northland was anything save a poor man's Mecca. So he cast about him in search of quick harvests. Between the beach and the passes were scattered many thousands of passionate pilgrims. These pilgrims Montana Kid proceeded to farm. At first he dealt faro in a pine-board gambling shack; but disagreeable necessity forced him to drop a sudden period into a man's life, and to move on up trail. Then he effected a corner in horseshoe nails, and they circulated at par with legal tender, four to the dollar, till an unexpected consignment of a hundred barrels or so broke the market and forced him to disgorge his stock at a loss. After that he located at Sheep Camp, organized the professional packers, and jumped the freight ten cents a pound in a single day. In token of their gratitude, the packers patronized his faro and roulette layouts and were mulcted cheerfully of their earnings. But his commercialism was of too lusty a growth to be long endured; so they rushed him one night, burned his shanty, divided the bank, and headed him up the trail with empty pockets.
Ill-luck was his running mate. He engaged with responsible parties to run whisky across the line by way of precarious and unknown trails, lost his Indian guides, and had the very first outfit confiscated by the Mounted Police. Numerous other misfortunes tended to make him bitter of heart and wanton of action, and he celebrated his arrival at Lake Bennett by terrorizing the camp for twenty straight hours. Then a miners' meeting took him in hand, and commanded him to make himself scarce. He had a wholesome respect for such assemblages, and he obeyed in such haste that he inadvertently removed himself at the tail-end of another man's dog team. This was equivalent to horse- stealing in a more mellow clime, so he hit only the high places across Bennett and down Tagish, and made his first camp a full hundred miles to the north.
Now it happened that the break of spring was at hand, and many of the principal citizens of Dawson were travelling south on the last ice. These he met and talked with, noted their names and possessions, and passed on. He had a good memory, also a fair imagination; nor was veracity one of his virtues.
Dawson, always eager for news, beheld Montana Kid's sled heading down the Yukon, and went out on the ice to meet him. No, he hadn't any newspapers; didn't know whether Durrant was hanged yet, nor who had won the Thanksgiving game; hadn't heard whether the United States and Spain had gone to fighting; didn't know who Dreyfus was; but O'Brien? Hadn't they heard? O'Brien, why, he was drowned in the White Horse; Sitka Charley the only one of the party who escaped. Joe Ladue? Both legs frozen and amputated at the Five Fingers. And Jack Dalton? Blown up on the "Sea Lion" with all hands. And Bettles? Wrecked on the "Carthagina," in Seymour Narrows,--twenty survivors out of three hundred. And Swiftwater Bill? Gone through the rotten ice of Lake LeBarge with six female members of the opera troupe he was convoying. Governor Walsh? Lost with all hands and eight sleds on the Thirty Mile. Devereaux? Who was Devereaux? Oh, the courier! Shot by Indians on Lake Marsh.
So it went. The word was passed along. Men shouldered in to ask after friends and partners, and in turn were shouldered out, too stunned for blasphemy. By the time Montana Kid gained the bank he was surrounded by several hundred fur-clad miners. When he passed the Barracks he was the centre of a procession. At the Opera House he was the nucleus of an excited mob, each member struggling for a chance to ask after some absent comrade. On every side he was being invited to drink. Never before had the Klondike thus opened its arms to a che-cha-qua. All Dawson was humming. Such a series of catastrophes had never occurred in its history. Every man of note who had gone south in the spring had been wiped out. The cabins vomited forth their occupants. Wild-eyed men hurried down from the creeks and gulches to seek out this man who had told a tale of such disaster. The Russian half-breed wife of Bettles sought the fireplace, inconsolable, and rocked back and forth, and ever and anon flung white wood-ashes upon her raven hair. The flag at the Barracks flopped dismally at half-mast. Dawson mourned its dead.
Why Montana Kid did this thing no man may know. Nor beyond the fact that the truth was not in him, can explanation be hazarded. But for five whole days he plunged the land in wailing and sorrow, and for five whole days he was the only man in the Klondike. The country gave him its best of bed and board. The saloons granted him the freedom of their bars. Men sought him continuously. The high officials bowed down to him for further information, and he was feasted at the Barracks by Constantine and his brother officers. And then, one day, Devereaux, the government courier, halted his tired dogs before the gold commissioner's office. Dead? Who said so? Give him a moose steak and he'd show them how dead he was. Why, Governor Walsh was in camp on the Little Salmon, and O'Brien coming in on the first water. Dead? Give him a moose steak and he'd show them.
And forthwith Dawson hummed. The Barracks' flag rose to the masthead, and Bettles' wife washed herself and put on clean raiment. The community subtly signified its desire that Montana Kid obliterate himself from the landscape. And Montana Kid obliterated; as usual, at the tail-end of some one else's dog team. Dawson rejoiced when he headed down the Yukon, and wished him godspeed to the ultimate destination of the case-hardened sinner. After that the owner of the dogs bestirred himself, made complaint to Constantine, and from him received the loan of a policeman.
With Circle City in prospect and the last ice crumbling under his runners, Montana Kid took advantage of the lengthening days and travelled his dogs late and early. Further, he had but little doubt that the owner of the dogs in question had taken his trail, and he wished to make American territory before the river broke. But by the afternoon of the third day it became evident that he had lost in his race with spring. The Yukon was growling and straining at its fetters. Long detours became necessary, for the trail had begun to fall through into the swift current beneath, while the ice, in constant unrest, was thundering apart in great gaping fissures. Through these and through countless airholes, the water began to sweep across the surface of the ice, and by the time he pulled into a woodchopper's cabin on the point of an island, the dogs were being rushed off their feet and were swimming more often than not. He was greeted sourly by the two residents, but he unharnessed and proceeded to cook up.
Donald and Davy were fair specimens of frontier inefficients. Canadian-born, city-bred Scots, in a foolish moment they had resigned their counting-house desks, drawn upon their savings, and gone Klondiking. And now they were feeling the rough edge of the country. Grubless, spiritless, with a lust for home in their hearts, they had been staked by the P. C. Company to cut wood for its steamers, with the promise at the end of a passage home. Disregarding the possibilities of the ice-run, they had fittingly demonstrated their inefficiency by their choice of the island on which they located. Montana Kid, though possessing little knowledge of the break-up of a great river, looked about him dubiously, and cast yearning glances at the distant bank where the towering bluffs promised immunity from all the ice of the Northland.
After feeding himself and dogs, he lighted his pipe and strolled out to get a better idea of the situation. The island, like all its river brethren, stood higher at the upper end, and it was here that Donald and Davy had built their cabin and piled many cords of wood. The far shore was a full mile away, while between the island and the near shore lay a back-channel perhaps a hundred yards across. At first sight of this, Montana Kid was tempted to take his dogs and escape to the mainland, but on closer inspection he discovered a rapid current flooding on top. Below, the river twisted sharply to the west, and in this turn its breast was studded by a maze of tiny islands.
"That's where she'll jam," he remarked to himself.
Half a dozen sleds, evidently bound up-stream to Dawson, were splashing through the chill water to the tail of the island. Travel on the river was passing from the precarious to the impossible, and it was nip and tuck with them till they gained the island and came up the path of the wood-choppers toward the cabin. One of them, snow-blind, towed helplessly at the rear of a sled. Husky young fellows they were, rough-garmented and trail-worn, yet Montana Kid had met the breed before and knew at once that it was not his kind.
"Hello! How's things up Dawson-way?" queried the foremost, passing his eye over Donald and Davy and settling it upon the Kid.
A first meeting in the wilderness is not characterized by formality. The talk quickly became general, and the news of the Upper and Lower Countries was swapped equitably back and forth. But the little the newcomers had was soon over with, for they had wintered at Minook, a thousand miles below, where nothing was doing. Montana Kid, however, was fresh from Salt Water, and they annexed him while they pitched camp, swamping him with questions concerning the outside, from which they had been cut off for a twelvemonth.
A shrieking split, suddenly lifting itself above the general uproar on the river, drew everybody to the bank. The surface water had increased in depth, and the ice, assailed from above and below, was struggling to tear itself from the grip of the shores. Fissures reverberated into life before their eyes, and the air was filled with multitudinous crackling, crisp and sharp, like the sound that goes up on a clear day from the firing line.
From up the river two men were racing a dog team toward them on an uncovered stretch of ice. But even as they looked, the pair struck the water and began to flounder through. Behind, where their feet had sped the moment before, the ice broke up and turned turtle. Through this opening the river rushed out upon them to their waists, burying the sled and swinging the dogs off at right angles in a drowning tangle. But the men stopped their flight to give the animals a fighting chance, and they groped hurriedly in the cold confusion, slashing at the detaining traces with their sheath-knives. Then they fought their way to the bank through swirling water and grinding ice, where, foremost in leaping to the rescue among the jarring fragments, was the Kid.
"Why, blime me, if it ain't Montana Kid!" exclaimed one of the men whom the Kid was just placing upon his feet at the top of the bank. He wore the scarlet tunic of the Mounted Police and jocularly raised his right hand in salute.
"Got a warrant for you, Kid," he continued, drawing a bedraggled paper from his breast pocket, "an' I 'ope as you'll come along peaceable."
Montana Kid looked at the chaotic river and shrugged his shoulders, and the policeman, following his glance, smiled.
"Where are the dogs?" his companion asked.
"Gentlemen," interrupted the policeman, "this 'ere mate o' mine is Jack Sutherland, owner of Twenty-Two Eldorado--"
"Not Sutherland of '92?" broke in the snow-blinded Minook man, groping feebly toward him.
"The same." Sutherland gripped his hand.
"And you?"
"Oh, I'm after your time, but I remember you in my freshman year,- -you were doing P. G. work then. Boys," he called, turning half about, "this is Sutherland, Jack Sutherland, erstwhile full-back on the 'Varsity. Come up, you gold-chasers, and fall upon him! Sutherland, this is Greenwich,--played quarter two seasons back."
"Yes, I read of the game," Sutherland said, shaking hands. "And I remember that big run of yours for the first touchdown."
Greenwich flushed darkly under his tanned skin and awkwardly made room for another.
"And here's Matthews,--Berkeley man. And we've got some Eastern cracks knocking about, too. Come up, you Princeton men! Come up! This is Sutherland, Jack Sutherland!"
Then they fell upon him heavily, carried him into camp, and supplied him with dry clothes and numerous mugs of black tea.
Donald and Davy, overlooked, had retired to their nightly game of crib. Montana Kid followed them with the policeman.
"Here, get into some dry togs," he said, pulling them from out his scanty kit. "Guess you'll have to bunk with me, too."
"Well, I say, you're a good 'un," the policeman remarked as he pulled on the other man's socks. "Sorry I've got to take you back to Dawson, but I only 'ope they won't be 'ard on you."
"Not so fast." The Kid smiled curiously. "We ain't under way yet. When I go I'm going down river, and I guess the chances are you'll go along."
"Not if I know myself--"
"Come on outside, and I'll show you, then. These damn fools," thrusting a thumb over his shoulder at the two Scots, "played smash when they located here. Fill your pipe, first--this is pretty good plug--and enjoy yourself while you can. You haven't many smokes before you."
The policeman went with him wonderingly, while Donald and Davy dropped their cards and followed. The Minook men noticed Montana Kid pointing now up the river, now down, and came over.
"What's up?" Sutherland demanded.
"Nothing much." Nonchalance sat well upon the Kid. "Just a case of raising hell and putting a chunk under. See that bend down there? That's where she'll jam millions of tons of ice. Then she'll jam in the bends up above, millions of tons. Upper jam breaks first, lower jam holds, pouf!" He dramatically swept the island with his hand. "Millions of tons," he added reflectively.
"And what of the woodpiles?" Davy questioned.
The Kid repeated his sweeping gestures and Davy wailed, "The labor of months! It canna be! Na, na, lad, it canna be. I doot not it's a jowk. Ay, say that it is," he appealed.
But when the Kid laughed harshly and turned on his heel, Davy flung himself upon the piles and began frantically to toss the cordwood back from the bank.
"Lend a hand, Donald!" he cried. "Can ye no lend a hand? 'T is the labor of months and the passage home!"
Donald caught him by the arm and shook him, but he tore free. "Did ye no hear, man? Millions of tons, and the island shall be sweepit clean."
"Straighten yersel' up, man," said Donald. "It's a bit fashed ye are."
But Davy fell upon the cordwood. Donald stalked back to the cabin, buckled on his money belt and Davy's, and went out to the point of the island where the ground was highest and where a huge pine towered above its fellows.
The men before the cabin heard the ringing of his axe and smiled. Greenwich returned from across the island with the word that they were penned in. It was impossible to cross the back-channel. The blind Minook man began to sing, and the rest joined in with -
"Wonder if it's true?
Does it seem so to you?
Seems to me he's lying -
Oh, I wonder if it's true?"
"It's ay sinfu'," Davy moaned, lifting his head and watching them dance in the slanting rays of the sun. "And my guid wood a' going to waste."
"Oh, I wonder if it's true,"
was flaunted back.
The noise of the river ceased suddenly. A strange calm wrapped about them. The ice had ripped from the shores and was floating higher on the surface of the river, which was rising. Up it came, swift and silent, for twenty feet, till the huge cakes rubbed softly against the crest of the bank. The tail of the island, being lower, was overrun. Then, without effort, the white flood started down-stream. But the sound increased with the momentum, and soon the whole island was shaking and quivering with the shock of the grinding bergs. Under pressure, the mighty cakes, weighing hundreds of tons, were shot into the air like peas. The frigid anarchy increased its riot, and the men had to shout into one another's ears to be heard. Occasionally the racket from the back channel could be heard above the tumult. The island shuddered with the impact of an enormous cake which drove in squarely upon its point. It ripped a score of pines out by the roots, then swinging around and over, lifted its muddy base from the bottom of the river and bore down upon the cabin, slicing the bank and trees away like a gigantic knife. It seemed barely to graze the corner of the cabin, but the cribbed logs tilted up like matches, and the structure, like a toy house, fell backward in ruin.
"The labor of months! The labor of months, and the passage home!" Davy wailed, while Montana Kid and the policeman dragged him backward from the woodpiles.
"You'll 'ave plenty o' hoppertunity all in good time for yer passage 'ome," the policeman growled, clouting him alongside the head and sending him flying into safety.
Donald, from the top of the pine, saw the devastating berg sweep away the cordwood and disappear down-stream. As though satisfied with this damage, the ice-flood quickly dropped to its old level and began to slacken its pace. The noise likewise eased down, and the others could hear Donald shouting from his eyrie to look down- stream. As forecast, the jam had come among the islands in the bend, and the ice was piling up in a great barrier which stretched from shore to shore. The river came to a standstill, and the water finding no outlet began to rise. It rushed up till the island was awash, the men splashing around up to their knees, and the dogs swimming to the ruins of the cabin. At this stage it abruptly became stationary, with no perceptible rise or fall.
Montana Kid shook his head. "It's jammed above, and no more's coming down."
"And the gamble is, which jam will break first," Sutherland added.
"Exactly," the Kid affirmed. "If the upper jam breaks first, we haven't a chance. Nothing will stand before it."
The Minook men turned away in silence, but soon "Rumsky Ho" floated upon the quiet air, followed by "The Orange and the Black." Room was made in the circle for Montana Kid and the policeman, and they quickly caught the ringing rhythm of the choruses as they drifted on from song to song.
"Oh, Donald, will ye no lend a hand?" Davy sobbed at the foot of the tree into which his comrade had climbed. "Oh, Donald, man, will ye no lend a hand?" he sobbed again, his hands bleeding from vain attempts to scale the slippery trunk.
But Donald had fixed his gaze up river, and now his voice rang out, vibrant with fear: -
"God Almichty, here she comes!"
Standing knee-deep in the icy water, the Minook men, with Montana Kid and the policeman, gripped hands and raised their voices in the terrible, "Battle Hymn of the Republic." But the words were drowned in the advancing roar.
And to Donald was vouchsafed a sight such as no man may see and live. A great wall of white flung itself upon the island. Trees, dogs, men, were blotted out, as though the hand of God had wiped the face of nature clean. This much he saw, then swayed an instant longer in his lofty perch and hurtled far out into the frozen hell.
Return to the Jack London library , or . . . Read the next short story; A Wicked Woman


text:
Are you tired of sleeping alone? Do your loved ones rely on closed doors and earplugs to help them rest peacefully through the night? If you are losing sleep because of your snoring, or if you are keeping your loved ones up at night with choking and gasping sounds, you may have sleep apnea.
What Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a potentially debilitating condition characterized by shallow or infrequent breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea occurs when the muscles supporting the soft palate relax, allowing the airway to narrow and close as you breathe in. It causes sufferers to snore loudly, choke, and gasp during sleep, leaving them (and those closest to them) feeling exhausted during the day. Conditions that have been linked to sleep apnea include high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and impaired concentration. Though it has the potential to be debilitating, at Bourne Dental Associates, we have effective treatments that will put an end to your lonely nights and weary days.
Sleep Apnea Symptoms
Along with complaints from those closest to you, the following are sleep apnea symptoms to be aware of:
- Difficulty staying asleep
- Waking frequently with the need to urinate
- Feeling fatigued throughout the day
- Weight gain
- Attention problems
- Waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat
- Morning headaches
- Depression
How Is Sleep Apnea Treated?
At our Bourne dental office, our dental professionals addresses sleep apnea symptoms and snoring with a removable, oral sleep apnea appliance (similar to a mouthpiece) that stabilizes the tongue and repositions the jaw. This allows for normal mouth opening and closing, as well as normal airflow, giving you immediate relief from sleep apnea symptoms. Though the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device is the gold standard for treating mild to severe sleep apnea, our treatment is far less invasive and is ideal for patients who can't tolerate the CPAP or who suffer from mild sleep apnea. Oral appliances are easy to use and require little to no change in your lifestyle.
If you think you may be suffering from sleep apnea, call 508.759.2724 today to learn how Bourne Dental Associates can end your family's fatigue.


text:
New York City's juvenile jails are extremely violent and unsafe, the result of a deeply ingrained culture of violence in which guards routinely violate constitutional rights of teenage inmates and subject them to "rampant use of unnecessary and excessive force," the federal government said in a scathing report released Monday.
The report, the result of a 2 1/2-year Justice Department investigation into violence at three Rikers Island juvenile jail facilities, recommended major reforms to almost every aspect of how young offenders are treated.
It identified problems that occurred between 2011 and 2013 that also likely hold true for adult inmates, including poor staff training, inadequate investigations, an ineffective management structure and the overuse of solitary confinement, particularly for mentally ill inmates.
"Indeed, while we did not specifically investigate the use of force against the adult inmate population, our investigation suggests that the systemic deficiencies identified in this report may exist in equal measure at the other jails on Rikers," the government attorneys from Manhattan wrote.
In past cases investigated by the Justice Department's civil rights division, federal authorities work with local officials to reform the jails and reserve the right to sue if they feel reforms are not being done.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to reform the nation's second-largest jail system, with an average of 11,500 inmates held at any time. In March, he appointed Joseph Ponte, a longtime corrections official from Maine with a reputation as a reformer.
Prosecutors acknowledged that Messrs. de Blasio and Ponte inherited many of the problems, which have been pervasive for years despite some small reform-minded undertakings during the final years of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tenure.
But the theme repeated throughout their 80-page report was that violence permeates the three Rikers facilities for 16- to 18-year-olds.
The investigators found particular problems in the main jail that houses young inmates, the Robert N. Davoren Complex, where new correction officers are assigned to "one of the most combustible environments at Rikers, ill-equipped to cope with adolescents who are often belligerent and suffer from a wide range of mental illnesses and behavioral disorders," assistant U.S. attorneys Jeffrey Powell and Emily Daughtry wrote.
They found that jail guards too often struck inmates in the face and head with closed fists while staff and potential witnesses are instructed not to report uses of force.
The consultant used by the federal prosecutors said that in reviewing hundreds of correctional systems, he had never seen such a high rate of head shots, use-of-force rate and such pervasive inmate-on-inmate violence.
In one August 2013 case detailed by the investigators, four unidentified inmates suffered broken noses, perforated eardrums, head trauma and facial injuries during a "brutal use of force" involving multiple guards in a trailer where school classes are held—and again later when they were handcuffed in a clinic holding area.
In that case, the inmates told the federal consultant they were assaulted after getting into an argument with a jail guard. Correction officers disputed that account, writing in reports to their bosses that the inmates jumped an officer and confronted others who came to the guard's aid.
There is no video of the encounter and, nearly a year after it occurred, corrections investigative reports were not completed, the federal government lawyers noted. What's more, in the initial use-of-force reports, the officers used similar wording of how the fight went down, "suggesting that the officers may have colluded with each other to ensure their reports were consistent."
That case is representative of others, the federal attorneys found, noting that when uses-of-force occur, their reporting is widely inconsistent and subsequent investigations are regularly incomplete, untimely and often inconsequential.
Four officers were involved in 50 to 76 use-of-force incidents at Davoren complex between 2007 and 2012.
"The officer with the highest number of uses of force during the six-year period (76) was disciplined only once during this time," they wrote. "Most of the others were disciplined once or twice, and some never."
Last fiscal year, there were 489 adolescent inmates, down from 682 in fiscal year 2013, when the average jail stint for 16- to 18-year-olds was 76 days. More than half had a mental health diagnosis. When they break jailhouse rules, such as refusing to obey orders or being verbally assaultive, they are sent to punitive segregation, a 23-hour lock-in essentially the same as solitary confinement.
In one 21-month period, an average of 150 inmates received such punishment each month, resulting in a total of 143,823 days in solitary.
At Rikers, the federal attorneys detailed dozens of changes that should be made, including moving all the youth inmates to a facility off Rikers supervised by experienced, better-trained guards; installing more video cameras; instituting a zero-tolerance policy for not reporting uses of force; and developing top-down training for staff.


text:
How to Muff a Mobile Marketing Campaign, Part 1
You wouldn't think it was easy to bungle a mobile marketing campaign — but it definitely is doable.
Six in 10 decision makers planned to increase their companies' mobile marketing budgets in 2013, Forrester said earlier this year, reporting on a survey conducted for Acquent. However, 42 percent of those respondents were worried about achieving ROI.
They have good reason to be, if CRM Buyer's informal survey of marketing experts is any indication. Mobile marketing may be a hot growth area, but it is still a hit-or-miss affair. Part 1 of this two-part series explains how some of those "misses" happen. Here are some more ways to muff a mobile marketing campaign.
1. View a Campaign Only as a Selling Tool
"Mobile CRM has a great opportunity to build loyalty and value by being contextual to the customer's experiences and perception of the brand," Syed Hasan, CEO of ResponseTek, told CRM Buyer. "The danger is that the CMO only sees mobile as a new channel for traditional campaigns, and misses the opportunity to gain information that will allow him to better target advertising and offers to increase conversion rates."
It is the same pitfall that befell traditional CRM, he noted — that is, emphasizing opportunities to sell based on customer knowledge alone without leveraging individual customer experiences.
"Mobile CRM" may be flawed term, Hasan suggested, because it implies an effort that is about sales and nothing but sales.
"We believe the conversations should start with experience and end with sales," he said.
2. Don't Seek Customer Feedback
The CRM projects that failed miserably yesterday offer a lesson for today's mobile campaigns, said Darren Bosik, senior methodologist at QuestBack. The message: Get feedback from customers and incorporate that feedback into the next campaign!
"Mobile CRM installations are destined to fail if companies don't heed the lessons learned from traditional CRM deployments of more than a decade ago," Bosik warned.
"Back then, businesses relied too much on the technology for gathering customer data into a centralized repository and did little to change their business processes around customer feedback," he told CRM Buyer.
"Mobile CRM solutions carry similar responsibilities — it is the company's responsibility to engage customers with feedback processes — such as mobile surveys and ordering — that improve the customer experience without sacrificing privacy or security," Bosik maintained.
3. Pick the Wrong Supporting System
Mobile campaigns start with a solid mobile marketing and CRM system. It doesn't matter how savvy the campaign is, if the supporting system is unwieldy or doesn't integrate well.
Companies should seek out mobile packages with this goal in mind, Bosik said.
The mobile CRM solution should improve the quality and timeliness of entering customer feedback data. It should accelerate the sales or service conversion time, and it should also ease integration with legacy systems such as survey and salesforce technology platforms, transactional databases, and even social media monitoring tools.
"The more the business can optimize mobile CRM solutions to integrate with other customer data, the better it can service customers individually and improve customer satisfaction," said Bosik.
4. Ignore the Real-Time Element
Mobile CRM needs to be as real-time as possible so it can match the behaviors people express on mobile devices and deliver the kind of value expected from mobile users, said RAPP VP Craig Elimeliah, director of creative technology.
"Mobile CRM needs to be as good at listening and responding as it is in collecting as much data as possible so that tailored communications and experiences can be delivered in real time," he told CRM Buyer.
"Mobile is fast," Elimeliah said, "so big data marts and CRM algorithms needs to react much quicker based on context and needs of the mobile customer."


text:
Call 1-800-949-4ADA
for Technical Assistance
2010 ADA Standards for Accessible
Design. (DOJ)
Provides the scoping and technical requirements for new construction
and alteration under Title II and III of the ADA.
Standards for Transportation Facilities (DOT) 2006.
These standards apply to the construction and alteration of transportation
facilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines 1994
(Previously enforced by the Department of Justice)
This document contains scoping and technical requirements for accessibility to
buildings and facilities by individuals with disabilities under the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. These scoping and technical requirements
were applied during the design, construction, and alteration of buildings
and facilities covered by titles II and III of the ADA from 1991-2012.
Checklist for Readily Achievable Barrier Removal (2011).
This checklist is based on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible
Design (2010 Standards). The specifications are in this checklist
to help determine what may be readily achievable barrier removal
for existing facilities. This checklist does not include all sections
of the 2010 Standards. For example there are no questions about patient
rooms in hospitals or guest rooms in hotels.
Guide to the New ADA-ABA Accessibility Guidelines (ATBCB)
On July 23, 2004, the U.S. Access Board, an independent Federal
agency, issued updated accessibility guidelines for new or altered
facilities covered by Americans with Disabilities Act and the Architectural
Barriers Act. These guidelines address a wide range of facilities
in the private and public sectors. Presented here is an overview
of the new guidelines that also highlights significant changes.
Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines Checklist for Buildings and Facilities (ATBCB) 91 pgs. 1992. This checklist has been prepared to assist individuals and entities with rights or duties under Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in applying the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) to buildings and facilities subject to the law.
About the Architectural Barriers Act and Other Disability
Rights Laws (ATBCB)
The Architectural Barriers Act requires access to facilities
designed, built or altered with Federal dollars or leased by
Federal agencies.
Pools Means of Entry and Exit (DOJ) 2012.
This publication is designed to help title II and title
III entities understand how new requirements for swimming pools,
especially existing pools, apply to them.
Stadiums (DOJ) 2 pgs.
This document highlights key accessibility requirements of the ADA that apply
to new stadiums.
with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines; Detectable
Warnings (DOJ) 7pgs. 1998
This document contains the Architectural
and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board statement that they
are continuing the suspension of the requirements for detectable
warnings at curb ramps, hazardous vehicular areas, and reflecting
pool edges in the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility
Guidelines (ADAAG) and the Standards for Accessible Design.
Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Requirement (ATBCB) 1991.
Chart-based view on the accessibility requirements of the ADA.
with Disabilities Act Design Guide 1: Re-striping Parking Lots (DOJ),
2 pgs.
This ADA Design Guide provides key information about how to create accessible
car and van spaces and how many spaces to provide when parking lots are re-striped.
with Disabilities Act Updates: Barrier Removal & Accessible
(DOJ) 22 pgs. This document provides additional informal guidance in understanding
the ADA regulations regarding accessible parking.
Bulletin #2: Visual Alarms (ATBCB) 4 pgs. 1994
This Bulletin was developed to provide additional informal guidance on visual
alarms as required by the ADA Accessibility Guidelines.
Bulletin #3: Using Text Telephones Technical Bulletin (ATBCB) 2001
Machinery or equipment that employs interactive graphic (i.e., typed) communications
through the transmission of coded signals across the standard telephone network.
Text telephones can include, for example, devices known as TDDs (telecommunications
display devices or telecommunications devices for deaf persons) or computers.
Bulletin #4: Surfaces (ATBCB) 4 pgs. 1994
Guide provides information on what is required for an accessible route surface.
Bulletin #5: Using Americans with Disabilities Act AG (ATBCB)
4 pgs. 1993
This Bulletin was developed to serve the specific needs of architects and other
design professionals who must apply the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG)
to new construction and alterations projects covered by titles II and III of
the ADA. It is also intended to clarify accessibility regulations generally,
including those that apply to existing facilities covered by the ADA.
Bulletin #6: Parking (ATBCB) 4 pgs. 1994
Guide provides information about how to create accessible parking spaces.
Elements Designed for Children's Use (ATBCB) 6 pgs.
This document contains guidelines based on children's dimensions for newly constructed
and altered children's facilities. The section would ensure that newly
constructed and altered children's facilities are readily accessible to and usable
by children with disabilities. The Department of Justice proposes to amend its
regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by adding
to its Standards for Accessible Design the special application section for children's
facilities proposed by the Access Board.
for Readily Achievable Barrier Removal (NIDRR/DOE),
15 pgs. 1995
This checklist will assist in identifying accessibility problems and solutions
in existing facilities in order to meet obligations under the ADA.
Outdoor Developed Areas: A Summary of Accessibility Standards
for Federal Outdoor Developed Areas (ATBCB)
This rulemaking covers access to trails, beaches, and picnic and camping areas
and will supplement the ADA Standards by adding a new chapter on outdoor developed
areas. The guidelines will provide new construction and alteration scoping and
criteria and addresses unique constraints specific to outdoor environments.
Area Guidelines (ATBCB)
Final guidelines for accessible play areas.
Rights-of-Way (ATBCB)
This rulemaking covers access to public rights-of-way sidewalks, street crossings,
and related pedestrian facilities. Guidelines will be developed for public
rights-of-way subject to the ADA or the ABA. The guidelines will cover new
construction and alterations and address issues and constraints unique to this
Facilities (ATBCB)
This rulemaking covers various recreation facilities, including
amusement rides, boating facilities, fishing piers and platforms,
golf courses, miniature golf, sports facilities, swimming pools
and spas. It provides both scoping requirements, which specify what
has to be accessible, and technical requirements, which spell out
how access is to be achieved. These guidelines will supplement ADAAG,
which addresses a wide range of facilities but does not cover these
types of recreation facilities in any particular detail.
Restriping Parking Spaces (DOJ) 2015.
This compliance brief provides information about the features of
accessible car and van parking spaces and how many accessible spaces
are required when parking facilities are restriped.
the Accessible Playground: 7 Things Every Playground Owner
Should Know About the Accessibility of Their Playground Surfaces (ATBCB)
From 2008 to 2012, the National Center on Accessibility (NCA)
at Indiana University-Bloomington conducted a longitudinal
study on the accessibility of playground surfaces. The research
study was funded by the U.S. Access Board. The information
presented in this publication is based on the research findings
and presented as guidance to public playground owners and operators.
of Accessibility Guidelines for Recreation Facilities (ATBCB)
Summaries of guidelines include: Amusement Rides, Boating Facilities,
Fishing Piers and Platforms, Golf Courses, Sporting Facilities,
and Swimming Pools and Spas
Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) (DOJ)
90 pgs. 1984
This document sets standards for facility accessibility by physically
disabled persons for Federal and federally-funded facilities. These
standards are to be applied during the design, construction, and
alteration of buildings and facilities to the extent required by
the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, as amended.
Federal Accessibility Standards Checklist (Title
II) (DOJ) 46 pgs. 1990
The purpose of this workbook is to enable people to survey buildings
for compliance with the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards
(UFAS). UFAS defines environments which are safe, accessible and
usable by people of all ages and abilities.
National Center on Accessibility Monographs - the National Center on Accessibility is the nation's premiere resource promoting access for people with disabilities in recreation.


text:
One thing to note, I called up RR, and they were very vague about whether they allow people to use IP Masquerading. The sales rep basically said that if you hog bandwidth, they will get upset. If you run servers that hog bandwidth, they will get upset.
There are two "I"'s in this document. Sometimes it is Andrew talking, and sometimes it is Mark.
The Big Picture
This diagram demonstrates the basic idea:
Your workstations and hub are inside your private network, indicated by a white background in the image, and the rest of the world is shown as the gray area. Note that the gateway machine is riding the fence between the two. Each of the Ethernet cards has an IP address assigned to it, and your gateway has one in the outside world and one on the inside. Positioned as such, the gateway has the power to forward communications from your private network to the outside world.
For the purpose of this discussion, I have assigned the internal network the 10.x.x.x (netmask 255.0.0.0) block of reserved private IP addresses and chosen the domain name "local". These can of course be changed if you know what you are doing, but they should work for most people.
The workstations are named "w1.local" (10.0.0.10) through "w3.local" (10.0.0.30) and the masquerading gateway is called "main.local" (10.0.0.1 on its private adaptor.) As before, you can modify or expand this scheme if you feel comfortable with it.
Selecting Hardware
The gateway machine requires relatively few resources, and can even be an old '486 machine with relatively little memory; routing packets is not particularly strenuous work. If it can run Linux at all, it should do the trick.
The workstations can be any machine running a TCP/IP capable OS, such as Linux, MacOS, or even MS operating systems, and you will need to outfit each machine with an ethernet card.
Choose a 10/100 autosensing hub. It makes your life a lot easier. Use 100 mbit ethernet cards on the inside, and the ethernet card connecting your gateway computer to the outside can be just a 10 mbit ethernet card. I will still use all the same type of ethernet cards and make them all 10/100. Using the same hardware across the board makes your life easier most of the time.
It is a good idea to stick with PCI ethernet cards in linux systems. Ethernet cards are quite cheap now, and having PCI cards will save you some possible headaches in the configuration phase. I have used the Netgear FA310TX card flawlessly in several machines, and have been told that Intel cards provide extremely reliable service. In any case, do some web research and make sure that there are commonly available modules for the cards you buy. The Netgear card and most 3com cards (which I have used extensively) have drivers that ship with Redhat 6. If you must use ISA cards, 3com 3c509s are quite easy to use. Keep in mind that if you are using an older machine for your gateway, it may have only ISA slots, possibly requiring you to use two ISA ethernet cards. In this case, you will have to acquire a utility program (which usually runs only in DOS) for your cards from their manufacturer, and use this program to set the IO address and/or IRQ of the cards to prevent conflicts.
Setting up the Gateway
The computer which will be your gateway will be the computer which RR is connected to.
First, physically install your carefully selected Ethernet cards in the machine. It is much less confusing to use two different brand cards on the gateway; by having a unique driver for each card you can be sure which one will be called eth0 and which will be eth1, and also lessen the chances of interrupt conflicts (to be avoided like the plague). If you opt for ISA cards, you may need to download some DOS utilities to set the IRQ and I/O addresses.
Start with a clean install of the Redhat 6 (for the purpose of this article) distribution on the gateway. If you've got the hard drive space, go ahead and install everything, but you really don't need an X server, graphics processing software, etc. on this machine. Just make sure that you are installing the ipchains, BIND, cacheing nameserver, pump, and other packages critical to what we are doing here. Also tell the install program to start named at boot.
For the purpose of this article, eth0 will be going to the cable modem and eth1 will be on your private network. You can probably get the first ethernet device up and running during the initial install. Have eth0 connected to the cable modem with the necessary crossover cable and tell it to use DHCP to get its IP address (don't specify one) since the Roadrunner service will be assigning us an internet IP. Use the netconf utility (or edit the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth? and /etc/conf.modules files directly) to get eth1 working once you can boot, and assign this one a private network IP address (10.0.0.1). It may take a bit of tinkering to get both cards detected and up. Be sure to specify the correct kernel modules/drivers, and once you can do an 'ifconfig' and see both eth0 and eth1 (or see them both go up at boot time), you should be ready to continue. It is possible to compile network card drivers into the kernel (this was often done in the past) but it is common and perfectly acceptable to simply use modular drivers as we've suggested here.
Ensure that your /etc/sysconfig/network looks like this and replace /etc/hosts with your own version of this file. The /etc/hosts file isn't absolutely necessary since we'll be setting up a DNS server, but it's a good backup.
NOTE ON TWO 3c509 NETWORK CARDS:
Install both ISA ethernet cards before you install RedHat Linux. The two ethernet cards Mark used (a long time ago) were
3com 3c509. The first had values of, irq=10, address=300 and the second had irq=11, address=310.
Also, when you install RedHat, go ahead and install it for a LAN and have it autoprobe the
ethernet cards.
You can setup DHCP using
RedHat's control panel, netconf, editing the files manually, or during the installation of RedHat (or whatever
other Linux distribution you are using).
Configuring IPChains / Masquerading
Try pinging a few outside servers or retrieving a few web pages with lynx to see if your Roadrunner connection is functioning. If so, you are ready to add masquerading. Append this block of modprobe and ipchains commands to your /etc/rc.d/rc.local script to enable forwarding/masquerading and also provide some fairly strong firewall rules.
Configuring DNS on the Private Network
As of now, 'pump' (which retrieves the DHCP information for eth0) is also setting the /etc/resolv.conf file to use Roadrunner's DNS servers. This provides no functionality for looking up hostnames in our private network and would require that each workstation have an identical copy of /etc/hosts and be manually set to use a Roadrunner nameserver. This is a little messy, so it's advisable to run your own DNS service.
Armed with some knowledge from the DNS-HOWTO, create or modify /etc/named.conf, /etc/resolv.conf, and the related files in /var/named. You must also create or edit /etc/pump.conf to keep pump from overwriting your resolv.conf settings every time eth0 goes up. Verify that 'named' is being run at bootup (there will be an S??named link in /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/ if it is) and you should have a cacheing nameserver running upon reboot, as well as DNS for your private network.
Setting up the Workstation Machines
Make sure all of your private network machines (including the gateway) are connected via a hub and Cat5 cable, and then configure the workstations. Give each machine/interface a unique IP address within the private block, and here is an example /etc/sysconfig/network for the Linux workstations. Add a customized /etc/hosts and this /etc/resolv.conf file, and you should be on your way. Try some pings or read some web documents from a workstaion to ensure that masquerading and DNS are operating correctly.
Here is an example for other computers in your network.
Also, if you are using pc or mac clients or other stuff, check out the masquerading mini-howto.
The general idea is to specify your masquerading machine (10.0.0.1) as the gateway and DNS server for each machine. The IP-Masquerading HOWTO has an excellent section on how to configure workstations running several different non-Linux operating systems in a masq'd private network.
Security Concerns
Being connected to the internet constantly has its risks. There are plenty of people out there who have nothing better to do than wreck unprotected systems, and many more who would like to use your system as a jumping-off point for illegal activities.
Masquerading is inherently somewhat unsafe because we must allow traffic to pass through the firewall. By disabling telnet, ftp, or other daemons that listen at ports on your gateway you can avert much of the danger, and fully understanding IP firewall chains is also valuable. A port forwarder such as ipportfw can also be used to redirect incoming requests for connections to other machines on your network (which would then be running the requested service), directing the danger away from your gateway.
You can prevent access to your DNS server by moving it to another machine on your network or by simply giving an appropriate listen-on directive to named (see the named.conf man page) to keep it from binding to a port on your external interface. If you would like higher security but need login capabilities from the outside, look into openssh, which allows telnet-like logins over an encrypted connection. It is also advisable to install an advanced logger such as tcplogd which can detect and inform you of most portscans and malicious activity.
Lastly, in many cases you can simply turn off the interface to the outside world when not using your connection, thereby lessening the chances of someone gaining unauthorized access. Simply issue 'ifdown eth0' on your gateway machine to disable your connection and 'ifup eth0' when you need to use it again.
Summary of Security
Dynamic DNS
Unless you asked for a fixed IP address, RoadRunner gives you a different ip address every time you log in. Dynamic DNS gives you
an alias so that you can find your computer at home when you are at work or let other people know where it is.
Dyndns.org can provide for you a static domain name despite your dynamic IP address, giving others on the internet an easy to remember and constant name for your gateway machine. Once you have registered with dyndns, a utility called 'ddup' can contact dyndns.org and update your nameserver record when your IP address changes. Appending this shell script fragment to our /etc/rc.d/rc.local will update your dyndns record at boot time, but only if your IP address has changed (dyndns doesn't like you to update your record for no reason.) This assumes that you have 'ddup' installed properly.
I tend to reboot the gateway machine every day or two and haven't had any problems with my assigned IP changing while it was up, though this is technically possible. If you plan on leaving your gateway up for weeks at a time, you might want to have cron run this script occasionally to make sure your dyndns record is always current. This will take a little reworking -- experiment and see what you can do.
# Firewall config - Should be appended to the end of /etc/rc.d/rc.local to run on boot. # Adapted from examples in the IP Masquerading HOWTO and IPChains HOTWO. See the original # documents to learn more. These examples should provide a fairly safe masquerading # firewall. echo "Loading IP masquerading modules..." # load modules to handle masquerading some tricky but common protocols /sbin/depmod -a /sbin/modprobe ip_masq_ftp /sbin/modprobe ip_masq_raudio /sbin/modprobe ip_masq_irc echo "Turning IP forwarding on..." # make sure the forwarding is turned on echo "1" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward # Get the dynamic IP address assigned via DHCP # and external interface name, save them to variables for easy use extip="`/sbin/ifconfig eth0 | grep 'inet addr' | awk '{print $2}' | sed -e 's/.*://'`" extint="eth0" # Do the same for internal network name and interface intint="eth1" intnet="10.0.0.0/8" echo "Configuring firewall chains:" echo -n "input..." ############################################################################# # Input chain: flush and set default policy of reject. Actually the default policy # is irrelevant because there is a catch all rule with deny and log. ipchains -F input ipchains -P input REJECT # local interface, local machines, going anywhere is valid ipchains -A input -i $intint -s $intnet -d 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT # remote interface, claiming to be local machines, IP spoofing, get lost ipchains -A input -i $extint -s $intnet -d 0.0.0.0/0 -l -j REJECT # remote interface, bounce anything trying to open a connection to us # this should keep anyone from opening TCP connections to this machine from # the outside world. Just an example of what we can do with IPChains, and not # a bad idea unless you have a reason for letting people connect to your firewall. # ipchains -A input ! -f -i $extint -p TCP -y -j REJECT # remote interface, any source, going to roadrunner dhcp address is ok ipchains -A input -i $extint -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d $extip/32 -j ACCEPT # loopback interface is valid. ipchains -A input -i lo -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT # catch all rule, all other incoming is denied and logged. ipchains -A input -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 0.0.0.0/0 -l -j REJECT echo -n "output..." ############################################################################# # Output chain: flush and set default policy of reject. Actually the default policy # is irrelevant because there is a catch all rule with deny and log. ipchains -F output ipchains -P output REJECT # local interface, any source going to local net is valid ipchains -A output -i $intint -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d $intnet -j ACCEPT # outgoing to local net on remote interface, stuffed routing, deny ipchains -A output -i $extint -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d $intnet -l -j REJECT # outgoing from local net on remote interface, stuffed masquerading, deny ipchains -A output -i $extint -s $intnet -d 0.0.0.0/0 -l -j REJECT # anything else outgoing on remote interface is valid ipchains -A output -i $extint -s $extip/32 -d 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT # loopback interface is valid. ipchains -A output -i lo -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 0.0.0.0/0 -j ACCEPT # catch all rule, all other outgoing is denied and logged. ipchains -A output -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 0.0.0.0/0 -l -j REJECT echo -n "forward..." ############################################################################# # Forward chain: flush and set default policy of deny. Actually the default policy # is irrelevant because there is a catch all rule with deny and log. # ipchains -F forward ipchains -P forward DENY # Masquerade from local net on local interface to anywhere. # This is the line that does all the work, most of the rest if the lines # in this file are just for security reasons. ipchains -A forward -i $extint -s $intnet -d 0.0.0.0/0 -j MASQ # catch all rule, all other forwarding is denied and logged. pity there is no # log option on the policy but this does the job instead. ipchains -A forward -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 0.0.0.0/0 -l -j REJECT echo "done."
NETWORKING="yes" FORWARD_IPV4="yes" HOSTNAME="main.local" DOMAINNAME="local" GATEWAY="10.0.0.1" GATEWAYDEV="eth0"
NETWORKING="yes" FORWARD_IPV4="no" # change hostname on each machine HOSTNAME="w1.local" DOMAINNAME="local" GATEWAY="10.0.0.1" GATEWAYDEV="eth0"
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain 10.0.0.1 main main.local 10.0.0.10 w1 w1.local 10.0.0.20 w2 w2.local 10.0.0.30 w3 w3.local
search local columbus.rr.com nameserver 10.0.0.1 #our local nameserver nameserver 220.127.116.11 #fill in a backup server. do not use this one, it is for OSU students only.
device eth0 { nodns }
options { directory "/var/named"; }; zone "." { type hint; file "named.ca"; }; zone "local"{ type master; file "local.zone"; notify no; }; zone "0.0.10.in-addr.arpa"{ type master; file "local.reverse"; notify no; }; zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa"{ type master; file "named.local"; };
@ IN SOA main.local. root.main.local. ( 200001151 ; serial 8 ; refresh 2 ; retry 1 ; expire 1 ; default_ttl ) @ IN NS main.local. localhost IN A 127.0.0.1 main IN A 10.0.0.1 w1 IN A 10.0.0.10 w2 IN A 10.0.0.20 w3 IN A 10.0.0.30
0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. IN SOA main.local. root.main.local. ( 1997022700 ; serial 28800 ; refresh 14400 ; retry 3600000 ; expire 86400 ; default_ttl ) 188.8.131.52.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR main.local. 10.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR w1.local. 18.104.22.168.in-addr.arpa. IN PTR w2.local. 22.214.171.124.in-addr.apra. IN PTR w3.local.
# Update dyndns.org entry with crafty abuse prevention # This will not work unless you have a dyndns account and the ddup package installed. # This requires some variables that are set in the firewall config script, # so this should be appended to the end of the firewall script. # replace dummy.hostname with your registered hostname reghost="dummy.hostname" regip="`nslookup $reghost main.dyndns.org | tail -n 3 | grep 'ddress' | awk '{print $2}'`" echo -e "\n Dyndns.org abuse prevention IP address check:" echo "$reghost registered: $regip" echo -e "$extint has IP address: $extip \n" if [ "$regip" = "$extip" ]; then echo "Address has not changed. DDUP not run."; else echo "Address has changed. Updating your record."; ddup --host $reghost; fi
alias eth0 3c509 alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc pre-install pcmcia_core /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia start alias eth1 tulip


text:
Topic: Boba Fett versus Batman
Okay, what would happen if Batman came into conflict with Boba Fett, with full access to all of their gadgets, barring vehicles? I think this would be an interesting matchup, personally. Both are the best in their businesses, and in different environments, both would excel. What do you guys think?


text: Ever wish your boyfriend or husband dressed just like your favorite silver screen icon, childhood celebrity crush, or musician? That just may easily happen now that Roxana Altamirano, of Nerd Boyfriend, has transformed her admiration of classic male personalities into an online shopping guide. Genius! Check it out here . . .


text:
At a Glance
What is it?
Omeka is an open-source platform of digital archives and collections that makes web-publishing easy and compliant with Dublin-core standards favored by libraries and museums. While it was first developed to help archivists and scholars publish their work online, Omeka has evolved into a valuable tool for students and educators.
Omeka contains two platforms. Omeka.org offers more personalization options but requires users to secure their own server for hosting. Omeka.net, on the other hand, hosts sites on its own server but the capacity and capabilities are determined by the various plans (which includes a basic, free plan). Teachers should examine the detailed comparison of Omeka.org and Omeka.net in order to decide which options best serve their desired use of Omeka.
This review will examine the free basic plan on Omeka.net and how teachers could use Omeka in the classroom.
Getting Started
First of all, it would be counterproductive to outline a step-by-step installation and set-up for an Omeka site. The developers at the Center for History and New Media have done a wonderful job providing a concise and understandable tutorial for first-time Omeka users (Omeka.net users should head to the Help page before beginning). In addition, the forum on Omeka.org addresses many questions that initial users might have—even for Omeka.net users. The Omeka team is fairly quick in addressing any questions that are submitted via email or through the forum.
Instead, some suggestions can facilitate creating an Omeka site from the free basic plan. After registering for an Omeka account and activating it via email, users will be directed to some simple set-up steps for starting a new site: choosing a name and description, selecting a theme among the four options in the basic plan ("Seasons" offers various design options) and installing plug-ins. Teachers would benefit from selecting appropriate plug-ins, which can be activated and deactivated at any moment—even after the site is live and published.
We recommend four plug-ins for classroom use: Docs Viewer (for scanned or digital files in DOC, PDF, PPT, or any image files), Simple Pages (which allows users to create a standalone page, such as an About page or course syllabus), CSV Import (for importing large quantities of items into the collection using an Excel CSV sheet), and Exhibit Builder (which offers the ability to create rich expository exhibits around selected items and collections).
Teachers can also customize their themes with logos, picture headers, customized menu categories, and other elements visible on the homepage. Eventually, as students are added as users, teachers will be able to control administrative levels of participants. (Here is Omeka's detailed explanation of how to edit settings and user permissions.)
One last recommendation: if teachers (or students) are planning on uploading dozens or hundreds of documents into the Omeka archive, it would be best to develop an Excel spreadsheet first. For each column heading, use the Omeka terminology for the various metadata categories. To find these categories, go to the administrative panel (or "backend" of the site) and select "Item" in the top left corner. Then, click on "add an item." You will find five different sections on the left menu. Begin by selecting "Dublin Core" and use each category name as the column header on the Excel spreadsheet. Remember: not every category needs to be filled out by users. When developing an Omeka student portfolio, for example, a user may only fill out the "Title," "Subject," "Description," "Source," and "Date." The Excel spreadsheet for this archive would only have the first five column headers.
After examining the Dublin Core categories, proceed to "Item Type" metadata and use "Item Type" as the next column header. As users populate the spreadsheet with information, it is important to use the Omeka language for "Item Type." For example, pictures are labeled "Still Image" in Omeka's Item Type categories. Finally, the last column header in the Excel spreadsheet should be for "Files." Here, users will eventually enter the location of the files Omeka will import to add to the site. This could be a folder on a computer or a web address (if the images are already hosted on another server).
Why use an Excel spreadsheet anyway? We found that entering each item into Omeka is fine if only a few items will be added at a time. However, entering data for dozens or hundreds of items takes a long time. With the aforementioned CSV plugin installed, users can instead populate their Excel spreadsheet, using Omeka's terminology for metadata categories, and save the Excel spreadsheet as a CSV (comma separated value) file. Then, users simply click on CSV Import in the admin panel and upload their CSV file. The results? Dozens or hundreds of items are uploaded at once, with all the designated information and files in place. The only information users will need to manually enter are tags and collection categories (if collections are created beforehand.) If all the items are the same "Item Type," then users can also select the appropriate item type in the CSV Import page as well.
So, Omeka's site contains a thorough step-by-step tutorial in both text and video that makes the process of creating an online archive simple, and this Tech for Teachers article shows how teachers and students can use and benefit from a more focused set-up process. Here's the more pressing question at hand: How can Omeka work in the classroom? The Educators page offers some basic ideas for how to use Omeka in the classroom and the functionality it provides for archiving student work and primary source materials, and this review has described how a new user could follow the online tutorials and develop a student portfolio, and looked at steps that could save teachers some time. Omeka, though, has many classroom functions.
- Course site — Teachers can use Omeka to develop their entire course online. "Simple Pages" allows teachers to create standalone pages—ideal for posting a course syllabus, reading/HW list, or other class information. Each page will become a menu item on the homepage. Then, teachers can create a collection or build an exhibit with sections and subsections. These sections could be themes, units, or any other form of organization for the course. Images and other files can be attached for student use.
- Thematic/unit collection — Omeka does not need to contain an entire course. Many school systems control which programs or sites teachers can use to construct a course website. That doesn't mean, however, that teachers cannot link to their Omeka site. Teachers can take advantage of Omeka's ability to tag, classify, attach files, and build exhibits to publish specific units.
- Collaborative projects — By allowing multiple users to submit work to an Omeka site, teachers can create sites with other faculty or colleagues who teach the same history course. At a school-system level, for example, all the AP U.S. History teachers can develop one Omeka site for students to access information specific to the course: DBQs, primary sources, FRQ questions, selected images and readings, etc. Likewise, once teachers become familiar with Omeka, they can help students develop a group Omeka project to display their collaborative work.
- Online repository — Mirroring the work of museum Omeka projects, faculty and students can work together to digitally preserve materials located at their school. Historical maps, video collections, and other sources can be archived so that students and faculty are aware of the resources available for history courses. Often, students are able to bring in valuable primary sources from home which can be photographed and added to an Omeka site, with permission from the owner for educational use.
- Individual student work — Omeka is easy enough for students to use, but teacher guidance will be essential at first. Many schools require student portfolios, and Omeka allows students to upload a variety of file types that can make their portfolio a multimedia presentation. Another approach is to provide students one section of the site to create or manage—which can keep a site alive for years if outgoing students "pass the baton" to incoming students.
- Community service/outreach — A last recommendation is to use Omeka for community projects. Perhaps an old church or school building has materials worth preserving, as part of a community's local history. In this way, history students can use Omeka as a way to learn how historians preserve information, while being active on campus. Teachers should envision Omeka as a way to teach students how to think and act like a museum curator, historian, or archivist.
Here are a few examples of how teachers, groups of students, and individuals have used Omeka:
- The James Monroe Papers is a student-driven class project from Mary Washington University students under faculty supervision. This site is a good example of how students can collaboratively build an Omeka site with some nudging, prodding, and guidance from history educators. Artists, Patrons, and Japanese Art also showcases a student group project under faculty supervision.
- Mary Washington Images is another project from Mary Washington under Jeff McClurken's supervision. The goal here, though, is to help students take the initiative to preserve local history and to think like curators and historians. The project is campus-wide and invites visitors to contribute to the preservation of institutional memory.
- A similar project to Mary Washington Images was developed by a UNC-Charlotte student, under the supervision of the library staff, to record Presidential visits to the city of Charlotte.
- Although customizing Omeka is a feature for Omeka.org, Dave Colamaria's site on the Steel Navy demonstrates how one student's passion can be realized through Omeka's platform.
For more information
For more Omeka sites, visit its wiki.


text:
You might also like
Snakes MazeHelp the snakes make their way home through the the woods. Carefully plan each route. Don't let them collide!
Bounce AdventureHelp little jelly travel through the forest! Avoid spikes, collect coins, and buy new jellies! Bounce through 27 unique, fun levels.
Spiny TomHelp hedgehog Spiny Tom find his way home. Remember where the obstacles are, because as soon as you start they will become invisible.
Nut RushHelp the squirrel collect nuts. Climb higher up the tree to bring them home!
LineumA challenge awaits you on a lush field in this puzzle game. Can you flip over all of the turf while you make a white line that stretches around it and back to the same point?
Red Riding Hood Run
Rate this game
Red riding hood is bringing her granny medicines and fruit, but many obstacles await on her road through the forest!


text:
Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
The City will offer (or require the Developer to offer) financial assistance for relocation (no relocations in RPA 2 or RPA 3 will be required). Homeowners and businesses who are displaced will be offered incentives to relocate within University City. The goal of the City is for all displaced residents and businesses to remain in the community.
Show All Answers
3rd Ward residents will see neighborhood improvements through the Redevelopment Plan for RPA 2. Ultimately, the City's goal is that your neighborhood will be safer and more attractive, while still economically and racially diverse, and that the quality of housing stock and the value will increase over time. For more details, read the University City Redevelopment Plan here.
For businesses within the footprint of RPA 1, the City will offer relocation assistance and will seek funds to incentivize a move to a new location in University City. If your business is east of McKnight/Woodson, you will see improvements to the Olive Blvd corridor that will spur further economic growth and development. For more information, read the University City Redevelopment Plan here.
The TIF Act requires a municipality seeking to implement TIF to establish a TIF Commission. The TIF Commission's role is to review, consider, and make recommendations to the City Council regarding proposed redevelopment plans, projects, and areas. For more information, click here.
The TIF Commission is made up of members appointed by taxing districts that may be affected by the TIF, including the City, St. Louis County, the University City School District and the University City Public Library.
The City will not use eminent domain under the TIF law to condemn owner-occupied residential property. The City may use eminent domain for other properties, but only when necessary after significant efforts to acquire property by private negotiation have been exhausted. The majority of residential and commercial properties in RPA 1 are already under contract, and the Developer of RPA 1 has stated his intention to be sensitive to the wishes of property owners.
The City anticipates that, if approved, the RPA 1 project will begin construction in 2019 and open for business in 2020. The Developer's projected schedule can be found here (page 22 of Developer's Plan). Redevelopment programs for RPA 2 and RPA 3 will be initiated as funding permits.


text:
INDIANAPOLIS – When a late-night gas explosion damaged more than 80 homes in an Indianapolis neighborhood last month, many off-duty Indianapolis police officers rushed to the scene to help.
"A lot of those officers came and got there so quickly," says Bill Owensby, president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, "because they had take-home cars.".
you are watching: Take-home police cars may be nearing end of the road
Owensby says "operational readiness" is one of many benefits of police officers having vehicles they can take home. But early next year, many of those Indianapolis officers will begin paying a fee for those cars.
The fee planned in Indianapolis is part of a growing national trend as tight budgets and increasing gasoline prices force law enforcement agencies to reconsider policies about officers taking home their police vehicles — a widespread practice some see as a perk and others view as a valuable crime-fighting tool.
Darrel Stephens, executive director of Major Cities Chiefs Association, which represents leaders of the 63 largest law enforcement agencies in the United States, says many larger departments have in recent years examined or adopted cost-sharing policies or other restrictions on take-home cars.
"Departments, because of fiscal constraints, are being asked to curtail the use of take-home vehicles, or are taking them away from some officers or charging fees and setting limits on off-duty use," said James Pasco, director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, the USA's largest police labor organization.
see more : Drug overdoses surged amid COVID lockdowns; more deaths in one year than ever before
Pasco says he understands the motivation behind such debates but thinks a narrow focus on dollars-and-cents doesn't account for valuable intangibles of take-home vehicles, such as the ability of officers to quickly respond to incidents, even when they're off duty, and the crime-deterring effect of having more vehicles visible in a community.
"This is not a privilege," Pasco says. "It really is about maximizing response times and the ability of officers to be where they need to be.".
In some places, such as North Miami Beach, Fla., The discussion already has resulted in ending the take-home policy for most of the department's roughly 100 police officers, city spokesman Mark Perkins says.
He says officers still are assigned cars but leave them at the station at the end of their shifts.
Other cities, including Indianapolis, are taking a less drastic approach: allowing officers to continue taking home their police cars but charging fees to cover gasoline and maintenance associated with personal use.
In Louisville, new officers must work for three years, instead of only one, to get a take-home vehicle, according to Chief Steve Conrad. That is a provision of a new policy that took effect in November that also assesses officers with take-home cars a gasoline fee if their vehicles are used for a second job.
see more : Corniche wins Breeders' Cup Juvenile for embattled Baffert
Not all departments are moving to limit or charge for off-duty use of police vehicles. The small city of Madison in southern Indiana recently launched an "experiment" in which members of a local emergency response team were issued take-home vehicles — something other officers with the 27-member department don't have.
Police Chief Dan Thurston says the trial began when the department spent its vehicle allotment on used police cars, instead of buying new vehicles. That allowed the department to obtain more vehicles and, in turn, provide the take-home cars to about a half-dozen officers.
The thinking behind the plan, Thurston says, is that the emergency response team members are more likely to be called out when they are off duty than other officers. But he also is hoping the trial helps reduce crime.
"We haven't done this long enough to have any data to prove that," Thurston says, "and it is a hard thing to quantify because you never really know what crimes might have been prevented by an off-duty officer stopping at a convenience store or parking a car in their driveway.".
In Indianapolis, the plan is expected to cost officers from $64 to $150 a month, depending on how the cars are used and where they live. About one-fourth of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's 1,795 officers, who use the cars only to go to work and back, will continue to get them free.
"This was the result of months of negotiation, and we had to strike a balance that brought significant revenue without gouging the officers," says Valerie Washington, chief financial officer for the Department of Public Safety.
Evans and Tuohy also report for The Indianapolis Star. Contributing: Mark Vanderhoff, The Courier-Journal, Louisville.
Source: https://pa9547.com
Category: News


text:
Global HIV infections have dropped by over 30% since 2001, says an October 9th report out from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDs. According to recent statistics, new HIV infections among adults and children worldwide has decreased by a third. Additionally, the statistics reveal a 30% decrease in AIDs-related deaths since 2001.
Researchers speculate that the decline is due to better access to anti-retroviral drugs, as well as increased knowledge about the virus and available treatment. Although the numbers are promising, there is still a long way to go before HIV/AIDs is a thing of the past.


text:
Education - Chromosomes - FISH
Chromosome FISH
(Fluorescence in situ hybridization)
The analysis of pachytene bivalents was possible but not easy. To somatic chromosomes, G-banding and C-banding techniques used to many other organisms were not applicable because they were too small. Since the latter half of 1980s, Fukui et al. tried graphic analysis in order to overcome this difficulty. Then in the 1990s, FISH was applied to the construction of the physical map of chromosomes (Figure 5) and also to the differential staining of the chromosomes (chromosome painting) from different species.
Figure 5. Locating YAC clones to the first and fourth chromosomes by FISH. (This figure is originated from Ohmido et al.)


text:
Gold Bullion "Headed for Sell Off" Despite Stronger Coin Sales
Gold Bullion prices hovered above $1610 per ounce during Tuesday morning's London session, having ticked higher in Asian trading following losses yesterday, as stock markets also gained, with the US set to reopen following a holiday yesterday.
Gold is still down around 3% on the month however following last week's drop.
"[Last week's] bearish close should lead to a sell-off to below the $1600 level unfolding in the weeks to come," reckons Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at Commerzbank.
"Gold broke the support line since May [last week]," adds a note from technical analysts at Societe Generale, "and the key support region of $1630 which was composed of last summer's congestion...it is therefore set to correct lower."
Silver meantime held just above $30 an ounce throughout this morning, around 4% down on the month, as commodities and US treasury bond prices were also little changed on the day.
Sales of silver American Eagle coins by the US Mint so far this month have already beaten the total for the whole of last February. Gold American Eagle sales for this month meantime are more than double those of the whole of February 2012.
Over in India, the world's biggest gold buying nation, dealers reported light demand for gold Tuesday, as the Rupee failed to recover last week's losses against the Dollar.
Last Friday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) announced that gold exchange traded funds can now invest up to 20% of their assets in gold deposit schemes run by banks, on which the banks would pay them a rate of return.
"Gold certificates issued by banks in respect of investments made by gold ETFs in [Gold Deposit Schemes] shall be held by the mutual funds only in dematerialized form," said a statement from Sebi.
Encouraging people to invest in 'dematerialized' gold rather than own bullion itself is one of the strategies discussed in a Reserve Bank of India report published earlier this month, which looks at ways of reducing the amount of gold India imports.
Over in Vietnam, owners of small amounts of gold could be forced to sell their metal at a discount following a recent decree by that country's central bank, according to local press reports Tuesday.
The State Bank of Vietnam has said only one tael (approx. 1.2 troy ounces) bars produced by the Saigon Jewelry Co. can be bought and sold. In 2011, the SBV announced it had "administratively acquired" SJC. The SBV later announced SJC as the producer of the national gold brand, while also drafting rules on eligibility that excluded many competitors.
In Tehran meantime, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry has criticized proposals to ease sanctions on dealing in gold with Iran in return for the country shutting down its Fordow nuclear plant, Reuters reports.
"Lately they have said 'Shut down Fordow, stop enrichment [of uranium], and we will allow gold transactions'," Ramin Mehmanparast said Monday.
"They want to take away the rights of a nation in exchange for allowing trade in gold."
Last year saw Iran become the number one destination for Turkish gold exports, in what came to be dubbed a "gold-for-gas" trade. Bullion dealers elsewhere in the Middle East however have begun to avoid gold bars produced in Turkey amid fears that dealing such bars may be part of efforts to get round US sanctions.
Earlier this month, Turkey's economy minister said his country "is not bound by restrictions imposed by others"
Here in Europe, economic sentiment has improved in both Germany and the Eurozone as a whole this month, according to ZEW survey data published this morning.
"We enter 2013 in a more stable financial environment than in recent years," European Central Bank president Mario Draghi told the European Parliament yesterday.
Draghi added that recent talk of currency wars is "really excessive".
"Most of the exchange rate movements that we have seen were not explicitly targeted, they were the result of domestic macroeconomic policies meant to boost the economy," he said.